


Forged in Steel

by reader1718



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-07
Updated: 2015-01-07
Packaged: 2018-03-05 14:20:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3123335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reader1718/pseuds/reader1718





	Forged in Steel

"Why are we here again?" Riff Lorten asked his best friend, Tony Wyzek. He and Tony along with fellow members of the Jets gang were at a craft and invention fair in downtown New York. Tony was the only one of the group who had truly wanted to come. The rest of the boys were quickly getting bored. "You didn't have to come you know. I could have come by myself," Tony replied. "Yes, but we wanted to come because we're your friends," Riff replied. Tony turned away and went back to looking at the metalwork he had been examining. With just rolled his eyes at his best friend. Tony wasn't like other kids he needs. He was dyslexic, had ADHD, and could sense what was wrong with any machine he picked up, seemingly by instinct, and fix it relatively easily. Once, on a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they had discovered another talent Tony had: he could read Ancient Greek. So far, the Ancient Greek part was the weirdest, but today things would get even stranger for the boys.

Just then, Tony spotted something really cool, a robotic sentry that someone was working on, and immediately ran to investigate with an expression on his face that resembled a child at Christmas. The robot wasn't working properly, a fact that Tony immediately spotted. He offered to help fix it, but first the owner was reluctant to let him touch it. However, he soon allowed Tony to look at the robot, and was extremely surprised when, within a matter of minutes it was working better than ever! It turned out that the man had more of them, one for every stall, and he let Tony look at all of them to see if he could improve them as well as he had done the first one. Tony proved him right and managed to fix all of them, and many great. All owners allowed them to guard their stalls while we went to lunch. The day went on, and soon many stall owners began to close up shop. They left their inventions and crafts there for the judging, and soon the place was empty of all except for Tony and the boys.

Just then, Riff thought he saw something move in the shadows nearby. "W-what was that?" He stammered, looking at his friends nervously. "I didn't see anything. You're seeing things. Let's go. There's nothing to do until tomorrow, anyway," Tony said. Before they made it out the door, though, the thing Riff had seen earlier suddenly burst out of hiding and started attacking them. It was a huge serpent and everything it looked at, bugs, people, etc. were instantly frozen in their tracks. Nothing seemed to pierce the serpent's hide. Its scales were harder than titanium. Tony was the first to figure out what it was: a drakon. "Don't look in its eyes or you'll be frozen where you stand, and for heaven's sake don't let it bite you!" Tony called out. Then Tony noticed that they weren't alone with the beast as he had thought at first. There was a man in a wheelchair being pushed by a young boy his own age there as well. "Look out!" Tony cried, getting their attention. The man looked up, saw the drakon, and started whispering to the boy in hushed tones. He handed the boy something, which the boy immediately tossed toward Tony. "Here, catch!" the boy called out.

The object that he had tossed Tony was a pen. "What am I supposed to do with this!?" Tony asked in disbelief. "Just take the pending click it!" the boy called. Not knowing what else to do, Tony did so, and was stunned when it extended into a sword! To his amazement, it turned into a sword in his hands! "Whoa!" Tony cried in surprise. He had little time to wonder about it, though, as at that moment, the drakon charged. Tony blocked its attacks with the sword, and suddenly, just as it seemed he was losing, one of the sentry robots nearby suddenly came to life on its own, and began attacking the drakon. Soon others joined it, and while they weren't able to take it down, they were able to distract it long enough for Tony to stab it in the roof of its mouth: it's one vulnerable spot. It screeched and Tony was able to finish it off with his sword.

The Jets just stared in mute astonishment at Tony standing there, sword in hand. It was Riff who finally broke the silence. "What the heck?! What just happened here?!" he exclaimed. "I have no idea," Tony said, not understanding what had happened either. "Explanations later. Right now we need to get you out of here," Aaron said quickly. "Whoa! I'm not going anywhere with you! I don't even know you!" Tony said, unnerved. "Look, I've been assigned to protect you and others like you, and I'm telling you we need to get you to your home so you can pack and we can get you safely to the Camp," Aaron said. Tony started to ask more questions, but the man in the wheelchair told him he needed to go with Aaron immediately. Suddenly Tony recognized him: this was Mr. Brunner, a friend of his mother's from sometime before he was born. Tony knew that he could trust Mr. Brunner, and if he told him to trust Aaron, then he would.

They headed out for Tony's house and when they got there, Aaron told Tony's mother, Linda, what had happened, simply saying, "Linda, Tony needs to go now-like right now." Linda immediately raced to the bedroom to start packing a suitcase for Tony, ignoring his questions, promising to explain on the way to the Camp. En route to the Camp, Tony learned that Linda had met his father when she was at a craft fair down in New Jersey. She hadn't known who he was, but she had known one thing, that she was very attracted to him. They began talking about crafts and metalwork, one thing had led to another, and before they knew it, she was pregnant. Nine months later, Tony had been born and for a while things were wonderful. But then one day he'd had to leave. Linda hadn't even found out his name, but she kept saying he was "dazzling". Tony thought he heard Aaron mutter something like, "They're always dazzling", but he wasn't sure, so he kept quiet. He didn't understand and probably never would, but he tried to not be sullen about it.

Once they arrived, they ran into a fight between a Minotaur and a young boy. "Run Percy!" the woman who was with the kid screamed. "Not without you, Mom!" the kid cried, determined not to leave his mother behind. "Go!" his mother cried, and finally the boy, Percy, ran toward the campground Tony could now see in the distance. "Go with Percy, Tony," Linda told her son. "I can't enter Camp Half-Blood. Only you can. It's a place where you'll be safe, okay?" Tony was reluctant to leave his mother, but he finally did as he was told. He grabbed his stuff and ran toward the camp. Once he got over there, he felt himself pass through a barrier, but the minotaur that was chasing him hit it and couldn't get through. He was safe, finally. Just then, he saw a guy coming toward him who seemed to have the upper body of a human teenager and the lower body of a goat! "What the heck?!" Tony exclaimed in surprise. "Hi, I'm Grover, one of the satyrs here at camp. What's your name?" the guy asked. "I'm Tony Wyzek. What kind of camp is this, anyway? Also, are you really half goat?" Tony asked, puzzled. "Yeah, I am. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, camp for young heroes-in-training. You must be the guy my friend Aaron mentioned," Grover said. Tony was surprised that Grover knew Aaron, but assumed that Aaron must also be a satyr based on the conversation they'd had when Tony met him. "Camp Half-Blood? 'Half' meaning what, exactly?" Tony asked. "I think you know. You remember what I mentioned at the museum about how the gods came down to earth and hooked up with mortals, and then they had kids", Grover said, putting deliberate emphasis on the last word.

"No way," Tony said unbelievingly. "Yep, you're a demigod. Two points for you!" Grover whooped. Tony couldn't believe it-he was the child of a god? "So who's my parent, then?" Tony asked. "We won't know for sure until you're claimed. Once you are, then you move into the cabin of your respective parent. Until then, you stay in the Hermes cabin. Whoa guys! Watch out! Newcomer coming through. Hello! Gosh!" This last comment was directed at several campers with bows and arrows who'd almost shot them full of arrows by accident. After that, Tony and Percy were shown to a field near the lake where a bunch of centaurs were running. "Mr. Brunner!" Percy shouted. It turned out that the centaur was actually known as Chiron. He spent a little time talking to them before they had to go get Tony and Percy settled into Hermes cabin. Then Tony and Percy spotted the gray-eyed girl he'd seen before facing off with several other campers, easily besting them all. "What's her name?" Percy asked Grover. "Her? She will squash you like a bug!" Grover retorted. "Her name," Percy repeated more slowly. "Annabeth-daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle strategy," Grover replied. She did look rather fierce, and Tony hoped he wouldn't have to fight against her in a battle. Grover and the others had mentioned being claimed and Tony wondered what that could mean.

It was over a week before Tony found out what being claimed meant. They were at the campfire, when suddenly all the campers stared at Tony and everyone gasped in shock. "What is it? What's wrong?" Tony asked. Then he saw a fading symbol over his head: a red fiery hammer. "The parentage is revealed. Hail Tony Wyzek, son of Hephaestus, god of the forge and fire!" Chiron declared, to the astonishment of the whole camp. After that, Tony went back to the Hermes cabin for the night, then was shown to the cabin for Hephaestus the next day. From the outside, the Hephaestus cabin looked like an oversize RV with shiny metal walls and metal-slatted windows. The entrance was like a bank vault door, circular and several feet thick. It opened with lots of brass gears turning and hydraulic pistons blowing smoke. It was made of brick and had a smokestack sticking out of it, like a tiny factory or an oversized motorhome.

Once inside, Tony noticed first thing that it was very unclean and messy, and filled with junk. Steel bunks were folded against the walls like high-tech Murphy beds. Each had a digital control panel, blinking LED lights, glowing gems, and interlocking gears. Tony guessed each camper had his own combination lock to release his bed, and there was probably an alcove behind it with storage, maybe some traps to keep out unwanted visitors. A fire pole came down from the second floor, even though the cabin didn't appear to have a second-floor from the outside. A circular staircase led down into some kind of basement. The walls were lined with every kind of power tool Tony could imagine, plus a huge assortment of knives, swords, and other implements of destruction. A large workbench overflowed with scrap metal-screws, bolts, washers, nails, rivets, and a million other machine parts. It was all the things Tony loved and more. There was even a set of chameleon armor invented by Beckendorf that would blend in with its surroundings, much like it's namesake. Then one of the campers showed Tony how to summon his bed. Apparently you just asked for the bed you wanted and it came down on its own. When the number was called, the whole cabin rumbled. A circular section of the floor spiraled open like a camera lens, and a full-size bed popped up. The bronze frame had a built-in game station at the footboard, a stereo system in the headboard, a glass-door refrigerator mounted into the base, and a whole bunch of control panels running down the side. From what he was told, it would retract into a private room below.

Then Tony met his cabin mates. There was Shane, Christopher, Nyssa, Harley, and a bunch of other names Tony couldn't keep straight. None of them looked like the others-all different face types, skin tone, hair color, height. However, they all had powerful hands, rough with calluses and stained with engine grease. Even little Harley, who couldn't have been more than eight, look like he could go six rounds with Chuck Norris without breaking a sweat. Nyssa, Tony noticed, wore camo pants, a tank top that showed off her buff arms, and a red bandanna over a mop of dark hair. Except for the smiley-face Band-Aid on her chin, she looked like one of those female action heroes, like any second she was going to grab a machine gun and start mowing down evil aliens.

Next, Tony was shown to the forges. He had seen for just before, but he'd never seen any place like the camp forge. It looked like a steam powered locomotive had smashed into the Greek Parthenon and they had fused together. White marble columns lined the soot-stained walls. Chimneys pumped smoke over an elaborate gable carved with a bunch of gods and monsters. The building sat at the edge of a stream, with several waterwheels turning a series of bronze gears. Tony heard machinery grinding inside, fires roaring, and hammers ringing on anvils. One guy was working on a battle-ax. He kept testing the blade on a slab of concrete. Each time he swung, the ax cut into the slab like it was warm cheese but the guy looked unsatisfied and went back to honing the edge. Tony want to know what the guy was planning to kill with it. Nyssa replied, "You never know. Even with Celestial Bronze, some monsters are really tough and don't disintegrate immediately. Drakons, for instance..." "I know. I've already had an experience with a drakon, thanks very much," Tony replied. "Also, what's Celestial Bronze. I can somewhat see, but what does it do, exactly?" Tony asked.

"Really? I've never known anyone who's fought a drakon and lived. Cool! Anyway, Celestial Bronze is mined from Mount Olympus itself and is extremely rare. Usually it disintegrates monsters on contact, but as I've already mentioned, some are more resistant to it than others," Nyssa said. Then, someone mentioned the dragon. Apparently it was a life-size automaton that the Hephaestus cabin built years ago. Then it was lost in the woods until a few summers back when the current head counselor, Charles Beckendorf had found it in pieces and rebuilt it. It had been helping to protect the camp but it was a little unpredictable. According to Nyssa, the dragon went haywire and smashed down cabins, set people on fire, and tried to eat the satyrs. Yikes! Tony thought. That sounded pretty scary and dangerous. Apparently the dragon liked thirty-weight motor oil with a little Tabasco sauce, right before bed, which Tony thought was a little weird. He wondered what Riff would think if he knew about all that. Unfortunately, none of the campers have fire resistant either, which would've come in handy when battling that dragon. Apparently there was also a secret bunker somewhere in the woods, but it could only be opened by pyrokinetic children of Hephaestus, so none of them could go in. No one knew what was in there.

Just then, a conch horn blew in the distance. The campers began putting up their tools and projects. Tony had not realized it was getting so late, but he looked through the windows and saw the sun going down. Apparently that was the call to dinner, so the kids headed up to the dining pavillion. Tony soon learned that he had powers related to his godly father. He was an expert builder and mechanic, and had the ability of technokinesis: the ability to manipulate machines, as well as the ability to find and sense traps in the ground. Technokinesis came with several abilities. He could sense machines, mechanics, or metal. He could identify machinery type and use by touch, and he could also sense faults in metal ore.

One evening, life at Camp Half-Blood was rocked with the dramatic appearance of Hades. That was when the campers found out that Zeus's master lightning bolt had gone missing and Percy was the prime suspect due to being Poseidon's son. In order to prove his innocence, he had to go on a quest to find the bolt and return it by the summer solstice in ten days or there would be dire consequences. Annabeth and Grover volunteered to go along with Percy to help him retrieve it, and Tony did too, figuring he might be able to help them find it. However, Chiron believed that Hades had stolen the bolt, so he, Percy, Annabeth and Grover headed to Los Angeles where the entrance to the Underworld was located. Along the way, they encountered several mythological monsters and Ares, who told Percy that his mother had been taken to the Underworld, but she was still alive. As they approached the pit of Tartaurus, Luke's winged shoes-a gift from his father, Hermes, which he'd given to Percy, who'd given them to Grover-tried to pull Grover into the Underworld, but Grover managed to get them off his hooves just in time. 

They eventually made it to the Underworld and had a confrontation with Hades, who also believed Percy had stolen the bolt as well as his Helm of Darkness. It turned out Hades hadn't stolen the bolt, so they were at a dead end again. But then, Percy checked his backpack and discovered the missing bolt inside. Apparently when Ares had given him the backpack, he'd snuck the bolt inside. They fled the Underworld and they relocated Ares, whom Percy defeated by hurting his heel. Ares then gave them back the Helm of Darkness, which they returned to Hades. They then headed out of the Underworld and caught a ride back to New York City, where they headed toward the Empire State Building to return the Master Bolt to Zeus. They managed to make it and Tony beheld his father at full size in the Olympian Pantheon. Percy was exonerated, but one question was still unanswered: who was the original thief who took the Bolt? 

The group headed back to Camp Half-Blood after returning the Bolt, but before they'd even gotten off the building, they ran into Luke. He told them Chiron had sent him to help them, but then Annabeth sensed something wasn't right since they hadn't been able to tell Chiron anything. She confronted Luke about that, and Luke revealed that HE had taken the lightning bolt, but had been captured by Ares. Luke had appealed to Ares' love of a good war and convinced him that all he had to do was hide the Bolt for awhile and it would start a war between the Olympians. Ares had accepted and as a result, a war had begun between Zeus and Poseidon, with different gods taking each side. Percy was the first to figure out that Luke was working for Cronos. He was proven right a moment later when Luke laughed evilly and confirmed Percy's suspicions. The young demigods engaged Luke in a battle royale over New York City. 

Unbeknownst to Tony, his friends were watching the battle and saw him fighting Luke alongside the other demigods. Finally Percy managed to vanquish Luke with his power over water and they all returned to Camp Half-Blood, where they found forms to fill out so the camp director, Mr. D. (aka Dionysus) would know who was staying at camp year-round. Tony and Percy chose to return home and Percy got to go to a new school and get rid of his smelly stepfather, Gabe Ugliano. Tony lived a very different life after that as well. He had a new sword from Chiron that he frequently used to battle the mythological monsters and other creatures that came into his life, while balancing time with his non-demigod friends, school, and camp too. He made a name for himself as a hero and left behind a legacy that would last a lifetime.


End file.
